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Opinion: Medicaid cuts punish Georgia’s disabled citizens. Here’s one family’s story

Chris Bondurant, of Atlanta, rear left, demonstrates during a protest calling for an expansion to Medicaid outside the State Capitol on the first day of the legislative session, Monday, Jan. 13, 2014, in Atlanta. The protest marking the start of the "Moral Monday" movement in Georgia, aims to put pressure on Gov. Nathan Deal to expand Medicaid under the federal health care law. Deal has said the state can't afford the expansion. The effort includes various advocacy groups and the Georgia NAACP, and is modeled after a group in North Carolina. Demonstrators there were arrested weekly last year. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
Chris Bondurant, of Atlanta, rear left, demonstrates during a protest calling for an expansion to Medicaid outside the State Capitol on the first day of the legislative session, Monday, Jan. 13, 2014, in Atlanta. The protest marking the start of the "Moral Monday" movement in Georgia, aims to put pressure on Gov. Nathan Deal to expand Medicaid under the federal health care law. Deal has said the state can't afford the expansion. The effort includes various advocacy groups and the Georgia NAACP, and is modeled after a group in North Carolina. Demonstrators there were arrested weekly last year. (AP Photo/David Goldman) Chris Bondurant, of Atlanta, rear left, demonstrates during a protest calling for an expansion to Medicaid outside the State Capitol on the first day of the legislative session, Monday, Jan. 13, 2014, in Atlanta. The protest marking the start of the "Moral Monday" movement in Georgia, aims to put pressure on Gov. Nathan Deal to expand Medicaid under the federal health care law. Deal has said the state can't afford the expansion. The effort includes various advocacy groups and the Georgia NAACP, and is modeled after a group in North Carolina. Demonstrators there were arrested weekly last year. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

By Sheryl Arno / The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (TNS) 4 min read

As executive director of the Down Syndrome Association of Atlanta, I see first-hand how Medicaid benefits our community. I’d like to highlight the story of a former board member, who chronicles his family’s journey and why cutting funding will impact his family and others across Georgia.

When his daughter turned 6 months old, she couldn’t sit up on her own, wasn’t crawling and struggled to feed.

After a series of appointments with neurologists, developmental pediatricians and other specialists, his family got the news no parent wants to hear: Their daughter wasn’t meeting her milestones and likely had developmental delays.

While the full scope of her diagnosis remains unclear, they know she has a severe speech delay, learning challenges and what doctors refer to as a “mild intellectual disability.”

They quickly sought help and found the Babies Can’t Wait Program, which connected them with early intervention services. As she approached preschool age, they applied for Georgia’s Katie Beckett Deeming Waiver, a program designed for families like theirs who don’t qualify for traditional Medicaid but still face overwhelming healthcare costs.